Never underestimate the knowledge and influence of people you know. Learning to listen to and trust your instincts will be the greatest business skill you learn. Begin building a network by first contacting members of your family, other relatives, neighbors, personal friends, general acquaintances, work associates and service activity colleagues.  Do not set limits on […]

By Bill Cates In my last post, I introduced the concept of referability and gave you some ideas on how to increase your referability early in new relationships. You have to be referable if you want to get referrals. In this post, I’ll show you how to grow and maintain a high level of referability over time. […]

Sales isn’t easy.  Don’t make it harder. Not honoring your word – The best way to lose trust. Don’t overcommit. Honesty is the best policy. Not listening – Obvious, right? You would think so, but all to often sales reps are all talk. Insincerity – Do you like getting spam? We sure don’t. Make emails […]

By Anum Hussain Back when I used to run a small nonprofit in Boston, my co-director and I thought it would help board productivity to host all our meetings virtually. Picking a convenient location for the entire group continued to be an issue, so we opted for a Google Hangout-first strategy. That same year we almost […]

by Caroline Gray If you could have a blockbuster movie trailer created about you, what would you want it to say? That’s essentially your elevator pitch. Career coach Jenn Dewall explains, “an elevator pitch is a brief summary explaining who you are, and it’s a way to get to know someone in a professional way.” An elevator pitch […]

De-clutter – De-clutter your desk, your task list, your inbox, your life. Plan – Plan out your work day and stick to it (check off accomplished task as you go). Prioritize – Rank your tasks in terms of priority and align them with your job demands and your goals. Be Effective – It’s not a […]

by Betty Liu Networking is a necessary–if sometimes, exhausting–part of doing business. For being so critical, it’s amazing how confusing and enigmatic it can be. Some people are just simply better at it than others. Others just have to learn the ways of networking, but not without lots of trial and error. One of the […]

For many of us, “networking” is close to a dirty word. Most people dread showing up to events with the sole purpose of selling themselves to strangers—all of them busy trying to sell themselves, too—in hopes of walking away with new connections that might lead to new positions, experience, and opportunities. The problem with traditional […]

Just had a conversation…haven’t heard back Problem – Your meeting ended before there was time to provide specific next steps Solution – If it makes sense to continue the conversation, never leave a meeting without both sides committing to the next meeting Submitted proposal….haven’t heard back Problem – You are now chasing the prospect, hoping […]

The secret to networking is, wait for it…. focusing on your customer. If she was in the room today: Who would she want to know more about? What businesses would she be interested in? What does she need help with? Seek out other businesses that answer one of those questions from a complementary industry and build your network […]